A Miracle? Woman Found Alive in Prayer Room 17 Days After Horrific Collapse of Bangladeshi Garment Factory

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Bangladeshi rescue personnel carry stretchers with the remains of garment workers from the site of a collapsed building in Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka, on May 9, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

DHAKA, Bangladesh (TheBlaze/AP) — In what can only be described as a true miracle, rescue workers in Bangladesh freed a woman buried for 17 days inside a prayer room in the wreckage of a collapsed garment factory building. The amazing rescue took place Friday as the death toll from the disaster raced past 1,000, making it one of the worst industrial tragedies in history.

The rescuers discovered the woman Friday afternoon in the wreckage of the basement of the building and ordered the cranes and bulldozers to immediately stop work. They used handsaws to cut through the rubble, as hundreds of people who had been engaged in the grim job of removing decomposing bodies from the site, raised their hands together in prayer.

Bangladesh’s workers and army personnel work to clean the debris and fallen ceiling of the garment factory building which collapsed in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, May 10, 2013. The death toll from a garment factory building that collapsed more than two weeks ago near the Bangladeshi capital soared past 1,000 on Friday, with no end in sight to the stream of bodies being pulled from the wreckage of the worst-ever garment industry disaster. Credit: AP

“Allah, you are the greatest, you can do anything. Please allow us all to rescue the survivor just found,” said a man on a loudspeaker leading the supplicants. “We seek apology for our sins. Please pardon us, pardon the person found alive.”

When the woman, who soldiers identified as Reshma, was freed after 40 minutes, the crowd erupted in wild cheers.

She was rushed to a military hospital in an ambulance, reportedly in remarkably good shape, despite her ordeal.

A Bangladeshi worker cleans the debris and fallen ceiling of the garment factory building that collapsed more than two weeks ago in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, May 10, 2013. The death toll from the garment factory building near the Bangladeshi capital soared past 1,000 on Friday, with no end in sight to the stream of bodies being pulled from the wreckage of the worst-ever garment industry disaster. Credit: AP

Abdur Razzak, a warrant officer with the military’s engineering department who first spotted her in the wreckage, said she was okay and could even walk.

Workers at the site began tearing through the nearby wreckage looking for other survivors.